While Our Blood's Still Young
by BellaLestrange87
Summary: James Potter and Lily Evans. Five snippets showing the course of their relationship. Story and chapter titles taken from the song "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap.
1. A Moment

Lily Evans pulled a comb through her tangled red hair and looked carefully at herself in the mirror. She wasn't sure why she was putting so much effort into her appearance. All she was doing was going for a patrol with James.

One hand on the comb, the other holding a strand of particularly knotted hair, Lily froze.

Potter. Lily wasn't really sure where she and James Potter stood with each other. Over the last year, he seemed to have grown up a bit. He wasn't pranking people anymore (well, he probably was. He just wasn't doing it in front of her.) Black was still going strong. The Sunday tradition of interrupted breakfast due to somebody's pulled prank would continue, although it would be Sirius Black she would be yelling at, not James.

See, there it was again. She wasn't calling him Potter anymore. He was James. Not arrogant toerag, or asshole, or conceited idiot (which were all insults she had used against him at some time or other since first year).

But no matter. Lily finished combing her hair, tied it back in a ponytail, have herself one final appraising look in the mirror, and left to go meet James.

He was down in the common room, sitting in an armchair by the fireplace, just where he'd said he'd be. When he saw her, he closed the Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook he'd been reading and set it down upon the table. Then he ran his hand through his hair, looking very self-conscious, and Lily realized that he only ever did that when he was around her. Was he nervous, by any chance?

"Hey," he said, standing up. He reached up to his neck, straightened his tie, and then flattened the hair he'd just pushed up.

Yep, Lily thought, definitely nervous.

"Hello," she replied. She wasn't all that surprised by the sound of her voice - calm, friendly. She was, however, surprise by the way her body had reacted upon seeing James.

Her heart had sped up, her throat felt dry, and her hands were clammy. Lily hoped that James didn't notice.

"So," James said, "shall we go?" She nodded.

"I talked with Professor McGonagall today," Lily told him, pleased that her voice was still obeying her fully. "She said that as it's almost Halloween there are bound to be some people setting up pranks for tomorrow. She added that they were to be given detention with Filch if we found them setting up anything." She paused, letting her words sink in to James. "So," she continued, "we're not going to find Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew in the dungeons setting up a massive Dungbomb explosion triggered by someone opening the door to the Slytherin common room, right?"

James laughed hollowly as they left the common room. "How - how did you know about that?" he asked, surprised.

"They were talking about it in Care of Magical Creatures," she informed him. They waited for a staircase to move and then crossed down it. "It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, you know. They were lucky that Professor Kettleburn didn't notice. He usually hears that kind of thing."

"Yes, I know," James grumbled. "That's primarily why I dropped that class."

They reached the ground floor and entered the hall that signalled the beginning of the dungeons. Already they could hear the murmur of sound, a duet of voices as Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew worked out the exact details of their prank.

They rounded the corner and James hesitated.

Sirius looked up from the Dungbomb he was holding in a gloved hand and froze. "Lily, hi," he said weakly.

Lily looked around her, at Peter who was still setting up the prank. At Sirius, who was looking hopefully at her. And she looked at James, who was leaning into the wall, appearing like he wanted to disappear into it.

"You know," Lily said with a slight smile, "I'm not completely stuffy, you know." She looked at James, added, "We were never here, were, we, Potter?" and had to stifle a smile at the shocked expression on his face.


	2. A Love

James Potter grumbled as he walked into Transfiguration class. "Bloody Sniv - Snape," he amended hastily, catching sight of Lily Evans, already sitting in her spot.

She took no notice of his slip and asked, curiosity evident, "What did he do?"

James fought to hide his confusion at her attitude. Lily Evans was not usually patient with him regarding Severus Snape. Most of the time she was fiercely defending him.

He took a piece of parchment and a quill out as Professor McGonagall walked into the room and began teaching.

"Today we will be starting human Transfiguration. This type of Transfiguration is very difficult, and I predict that all of you will make at least one mistake before the end of the period. That is entirely to be expected. Especially if you did not do your homework I assigned on Monday, or if you are playing Exploding Snap in the back of my classroom. Right, Mr. Black?"

Right behind him, James heard Sirius's quiet, embarrassed, "Yes, Professor," followed by the sound of the Exploding Snap cards being dropped into a bag.

"Now, then," McGonagall said. "I want you to partner up with the person you're sitting beside-" James stole a glance at Lily, who was staring at McGonagall. He would've thought she was ignoring him completely, except for the occasional looks she was giving him out of the corner of her eye. "-You are going to start by Transfiguring your leg into an object of your choice. As long as it is roughly in the shape of a leg and is classroom appropriate it is acceptable." She stood at the front of the room, hands on her hips, surveying the class. "You may begin."

"So," James began awkardly, looking at Lily, "who's going first?

"You can," she said, shrugging. She had a this-should-be-interesting attitude about her as James drew his wand.

Trying to ignore Lily standing there, James focused on what he wanted: a wooden leg. He pointed his wand at his leg and muttered the incantation.

His leg, instead of turning into a wooden leg, had lit itself on fire.

"Potter," Lily said, pretending to be severe as she tried in vain to hide a smile, "what did you visualize, a fire log?"

"No," James said, abashed and slightly embarrassed as he doused his leg in water. "You go, then!" he added, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"Okay," she said, pushing herself off the table she had been leaning against.

Much to James's disappointment, she did not light herself on fire.

"See," she said, staring down at her own wooden leg, " _that's_ what you're supposed to do."

"I know what I'm supposed to do!" James protested. "And how to do it!"

"Then how come you can't?" Lily pressed him.

"Because-" James stopped there. Because he wasn't focusing entirely on the spell; he was focusing partly on her. Because he didn't want to make himself look like a fool in front of her and consequently he was making himself look like a fool in front of her. "I don't know," he said.

"I bet you don't," she replied, waggling her eyebrows.

James felt himself turn bright red, much to his discomfort. "Well, since I don't," he said, trying to prevent himself from stuttering, "how about you help me with this after class?"

"Sure," Lily said, smiling as she added, "If it'll prevent you from setting yourself on fire again."


End file.
